Just got back from the H 16 CC at Lake Onida, great event. Was talking to Greg Thomas from the factory and he said they were selling a few FX 1's in the US. Would like to know where they are going and if any are in my area (East Coast-Delaware). I've had one for two years and love it, but have to race handicaped. Maybe we could get something going for next year. If you are racing your boat make sure you send in the times to US Sailing so the boat can be handicaped properly. Right now it is just an estimate.

Boise, ID here. I know there's one in No Cal and one in NY that I've spoke to. I would love to race against one one of these days to compare. Hopefully in due time, we'll get enought to race each other.

This summer whe had our first real fx-one regatta in Europe. 15 boats attended the eurocup event in Cabanas in Spain. Portugese, Spanish< Austrian and Dutch sailors attended the event. Ever since the demise of the Hobie 17 class in Europe we were waiting for a new class to show up. Personally I think the FX is a great boat that can provide some close racing in future. the FX performs a lot better than the Inter 17 does. In Holland Inter 17 sailors start realizing this and are currently buying new boats. I hope you yanks will start a serious class as well, so one day we can come over and race.

Last year in Travemunde (Germany) we had 7 boats, this year 15 boats in Cabanas (Spain), next year 30 in 's Gravezande (Holland ?????

The Fx will cost you roundabout 13000 euro, whereas the Tiger is in the 17000 euro range if you buy a fully fitted out, ready to compete boat. I know that the euro nowadays is quite expensive 1,3 dollar/1 euro current trading. That is the backside of it. The good thing is that the fx is a boat that looks great, lasts through the years and is a lot faster than the inter 17 standart, faster than the inter 17xl (european race version with standart aluminium mast 8,5 meter mast and 16sqm sail) and probably just as fast as the inter 17 race (with expensive 9 meter carbon mast, and severely punished for luff length by PMA, Texel rating and ISAF small catamaran handicap system. and let us not forget that the ISAF system has an extra penalty for carbon masts)
Our experience on the North Sea with difficult steep choppy waves made us conclude this. In non-trapeze conditions the inter 17XL (same weight, same mast length, same mainsail area, bigger spinaker) was about as fast as the FX. In trapezing conditions the FX just took off. Hear! Hear!
Dirk

I would second Dan's comments. At 13,000 euro's you can almost buy two new Hobie 17's for the price of one FX-1. At the H-17 North Americans in Monterey this year, we sailed with a FX-1 in the warmup Otter Regatta. Going to weather, most of the H-17's were as fast if not faster than the FX-1. Downwind with the chute he was faster, but overall, several of the top H-17's finished ahead of the FX-1.

The H-17 fleet is growing in the North West. Several new H-17's are on order. There are also a lot of used H-17's available at a very reasonable price.